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<H1>Defense secretary nominee subtly chides Iraq handlers</H1>
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<P><B>WASHINGTON</B> (AP) -- Former CIA Director Robert Gates, the nominee
for U.S. defense secretary, criticized the handling of the war in Iraq and
said he will improve Pentagon postwar planning if he is confirmed.</P>
<P>Gates also endorsed the idea of engaging Iran and Syria for help in
stabilizing increasingly violent Iraq, an opinion that President George W.
Bush does not share.</P>
<P>Gates made the comments in response to a questionnaire from the Senate
Armed Services Committee, which is to hold a confirmation hearing next
week.</P>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>"War planning should be done with the understanding
that the post-major combat phase of operations can be crucial," Gates said
in a 65-page written response submitted to the committee
Tuesday</FONT>.</P>
<P>"If confirmed, I intend to improve the department's capabilities in
this area," he said in response to a question about what he would have
done differently. "With the advantage of hindsight, I might have done some
things differently."</P>
<P>Gates also appeared to subtly criticize the invasion of Iraq.</P>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>"I believe the use of pre-emptive force should be
based on very strong evidence," he said when asked about incorrect
intelligence saying that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
"It is a decision that must not be taken lightly," Gates added.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>He also said that "hard questions" must be asked
about intelligence.</FONT></P>
<P>Asked whether the United States should engage Iran and Syria for help
in stabilizing Iraq, Gates endorsed the idea but said talks need not be on
a one-on-one basis.</P>
<P>A bipartisan commission led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker
III and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton is widely expected to call for
regional talks as part of its recommendations for a way forward in
Iraq.</P>
<P>"Even in the worst days of the Cold War, the U.S. maintained a dialogue
with the Soviet Union and China, and I believe those channels of
communication helped us manage many potentially difficult situations," the
nominee said of proposals for talks with Iran.</P>
<P class=cnnSCAttribution>Copyright 2006 The <A
href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP"
target=_blank>Associated Press</A>. All rights reserved.This material may
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<TD class=font-cn><SPAN class=fonttitle>Find this article at:</SPAN>
<BR><A
href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/29/gates.iraq.ap/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/29/gates.iraq.ap/index.html</A></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<H1>Colin Powell says Iraq in a 'civil war'</H1>
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<H4><SPAN>Story Highlights</SPAN></H4>•Former Secretary of State Colin
Powell says "civil war" describes Iraq now<BR>•Bush, top advisers have
avoided the term<BR>•Powell was top diplomat when U.S. invaded Iraq in
2003 and made case for war<BR>•U.N. Secretary General said Monday Iraq was
"almost" in civil war</DIV>
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<P><B>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates</B> (CNN) -- Former Secretary of State
Colin Powell said Wednesday that Iraq's violence meets the standard of
civil war and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might
recommend that the administration use that term.</P>
<P>Many news organizations and analysts are calling the Sunni-Shiite
sectarian warfare that exploded this year, killing thousands and causing
widespread displacement, a civil war.</P>
<P>Powell's comments -- made in the United Arab Emirates at the Leaders in
Dubai Business Forum -- are significant because he backed the war and was
the top U.S. diplomat when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. (<A
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/11/28/costello.iraq.civil.war.or.not.nbc','2006/12/05');"
target=_blank>Watch why some call Iraq's violence a civil war</A><A
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2006/11/28/costello.iraq.civil.war.or.not.nbc','2006/12/05');','2006/11/29');"
target=_blank><IMG class=cnnVideoIcon height=12 alt=Video hspace=0
src="http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.5/main/icon_video.gif" width=19
vspace=1 border=0></A>)</P>
<P>Bush has avoided using the term "civil war" to describe the situation
in Iraq.</P>
<P>Tuesday, he called the latest violence in Iraq "part of a pattern" of
attacks by al Qaeda in Iraq to divide Shiites and Sunnis and vowed, again,
he won't support the removal of U.S. troops "before the mission is
complete."</P>
<P>"There's a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented in my
opinion because of the attacks by al Qaeda, causing people to seek
reprisal," he said. (<A
href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/29/bush.trip.ap/index.html"
target=_blank>Full story</A>)</P>
<P>White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley also dismissed the
notion that civil war has begun in Iraq.</P>
<P>"The Iraqis don't talk of it as a civil war. The unity government
doesn't talk of it as a civil war," Hadley said Monday. "You have not yet
had a situation also where you have two clearly defined and opposing
groups vying not only for power but for territory."</P>
<P>But he added: "We're clearly in a new phase characterized by an
increase in sectarian violence that requires us to adapt to that new
phase," according to The Associated Press.</P>
<P>U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday said that he believes Iraq
is near civil war. "Unless something is done drastically and urgently to
arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are
almost there," he said. (<A
href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/27/us.iraq.ap/index.html"
target=_blank>Full story</A>)</P>
<P>A spokesman for the powerful political bloc of Iraqi Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr said Wednesday the group has suspended its participation
in Iraq's government. The group had threatened to take such action if
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met with President Bush in Jordan this week.
Al-Maliki was in Jordan Wednesday with talks scheduled for Thursday.</P>
<P>A classified memo prepared by President's Bush's national security
adviser after a recent trip to Iraq questions whether al-Maliki can rise
above Iraq's widening and bloody Sunni-Shiite divide. (<A
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2006/11/29/malveaux.iraq.leaked.memo.cnn','2006/12/06');"
target=_blank>Watch why some question whether al-Maliki can hold Iraq
together</A><A
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2006/11/29/malveaux.iraq.leaked.memo.cnn','2006/12/06');','2006/11/29');"
target=_blank><IMG class=cnnVideoIcon height=12 alt=Video hspace=0
src="http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.5/main/icon_video.gif" width=19
vspace=1 border=0></A>)</P>
<P>Powell proposed a two-part solution to the problems in Iraq. First, he
said, coalition troops must remain, but their numbers must be reduced.
Second, a political solution must emerge among Iraqis themselves and not
be imposed on them.</P>
<P>In 2003, Powell set out a lengthy argument at the United Nations that
buttressed the eventual invasion, including supposed evidence of weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq.</P>
<P>Asked Wednesday whether he regretted those statements, he said he does.
He noted he was working with the information that was available to him at
the time.</P>
<P class=cnnSCAttribution>Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. <A
href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP"
target=_blank>Associated Press</A> contributed to this
report.</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV><!--Article End--><!--Bibliography Goes Here-->
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